Last updated: May 2nd, 2024
Are you an executive resume writer? Let me share 3 principles that will help you write better executive resumes and will make you a better writer overall.
Writing an executive resume is a craft, not an art.
Often, it’s elevated to the level of art, but 99% of the time, it’s just a craft — and an honourable one, like carpentry and cooking — with its own set of tools, which are words.
Like all tools, they’ll do the job if they’re used right. Follow the 3 principles below and elevate your executive resume writing skills to new levels.
1. Clarity.
If it isn’t clear, you might as well not write it. Clarity is the #1 goal in executive resume writing.
It’s the main prize.
It’s also the most difficult goal to achieve – because sentences, when first written, tend to come out wrong.
Most writing is editing, so expect the first draft of your resume to be disappointing. Unclear.
Read what you wrote and ask yourself – “Is my message coming through loud and clear, or is it muddy and muted?”.
(Related: How To Write A CEO Resume).
2. Simplicity.
The crippling disease in executive resume writing is clutter. Executive resumes are often strangled by unnecessary words, meaningless jargon and pompous frills.
Resist the tendency to inflate and make your client sound pompous and dignified. Instead, strip the language back down.
Get rid of the pretentiousness, the pomposity and the fat.
You must constantly remind yourself that simplicity is the virtue in executive resume writing.
It’s the main virtue after clarity.
Executive resume writers are often prisoners of the idea that a simple style reflects a simple mind when, in fact, the exact opposite is true. A simple executive resume is a result of very hard work.
As the old saying goes, “Hard writing makes easy reading”.
(Related: How To Write A CIO Resume).
3. Brevity.
Say things in the most economical way. Do not give the reader anything they don’t need.
An executive resume is like a good watch; it should function smoothly and have no extra parts to get in the way:
- Short words are better than long words.
- Short sentences are better than long sentences.
- Short paragraphs are better than long paragraphs.
I’ve found that most executive resumes can be cut by 50% without losing anything organic or commercially meaningful – and the end result is always much better.
If I tell you to cut your current executive resume by 50%, you will howl and say it can’t be done.
Then you’ll do it, and it will be much better.
You will have looked at your resume objectively and seen it’s full of clutter. Full of weeds smothering your story and sucking strength out of your achievements.
Remember: Every component in an executive resume must be doing useful work. New work.
Work that hasn’t been done before.
If you find anything in a client’s resume that you can’t justify – or if the sentence would be perfectly clear without it – ask yourself – “Do I need it?”
Chances are, you don’t. So, learn to cut. And to enjoy cutting.
One of the greatest joys of executive resume writing is seeing how much more alive your final document becomes when it’s stripped down to its essentials and isn’t choked by weeds and clutter.
(Related: How To Write A CFO Resume).
Bonus Tip: Humanity.
Most executive resume writers get into the industry because they want to tell their clients’ stories. Yet, the people who emerge on documents are much stiffer than the real person.
It’s funny how often an executive resume becomes more readable on the second page, when the writer relaxes and stops building an elaborate edifice.
Be natural. Be yourself. Don’t try to say in writing things that you wouldn’t be comfortable saying in conversation.
How you write affects how hiring managers and executive recruiters perceive your client. If your resume is stiff and pompous, your client will be perceived that way.
The resume is your only chance to sell your client. Don’t blow your chance.
Don’t squander your best asset, which is your client’s humanity.
Write with warmth.
5 Bonus Takeaways:
- Writing your resume is an act of ego. You might as well admit it. Therefore writing must have a certain amount of confidence going into it. And yet, it’s often the hardest thing for most of us to generate.
- Writing an executive resume is the act of thinking about a person’s commercial value on paper. Anyone who can think clearly about their ability to solve commercial problems will be able to write a clear, strong resume.
- Writing an executive resume is hard. I’m always amazed by how many people assume that resume writers just sit down to write and whatever they need to say comes out. On the contrary, the more writers write, the more they rewrite. The more they fiddle. Trying to finally say exactly what they want to say with as much freshness as possible.
- Very few sentences come out right the first time. Or the second time. A clear sentence is no accident. On the other hand, getting that sentence on the third try, or the fourth try is of great satisfaction. When you get all of your sentences together, one after another, saying something clearly that you want to say in a voice that sounds like you – that’s an achievement that you can be proud of.
- Writing is linear and sequential. Sentence B must logically follow sentence A, sentence C must follow sentence B, or all the well-written sentences in the world will finally add up to chaos. Your job as the resume writer is to present one idea in a sentence, then let the reader grasp that idea, then present the next idea, let the reader grasp that and so on.
Irene
